The Johnny Bacardi Show

If your internet provider is au.net, then I thank you for being the 1,000th visitor to my humble little blog. I hope you found something interesting to read.

Seven, coun't 'em, seven primo John Cassaday Hellboy pages in a preview of the new Hellboy anthology book over at Newsarama.com. Click here to see 'em, they're sweet.

Also at Newsarama, a Paul Pope interview.

Guess this is gonna be a random thoughts type thing tonight. I want to write but I'm just feeling kinda braindead. More so than usual, thank you.

One thing I've become aware of since I started doing this is how many different bells and whistles there are out there for blogs. I've been thinking about adding Blogrolling.com, but I don't know if it will be worth it. I tried Bloglink, even added a couple of sites through it, but thought "What am I gonna do with all the blogs I already have linked to?" I didn't feel like going to the trouble of copying and pasting all the URLs in...and the HTML code caused my page to load incorrectly anyway so I just cancelled and went back to the old way of adding the links to my template. I tried to join a Capricorn webring, just on a whim (felt a little silly afterwards) but it too didn't show up right when I added the code to my template. All the page elements were thrown off, and wouldn't reproduce the fonts correctly. So I didn't add it. Problem solved sort of. Maybe it's a PC/Mac thing, I don't know. I'm also kinda mulling over ditching Blogspot for Movable Type. I've seen a lot of great looking blogs that use it. Decisions, decisions.

Found this amusing tarot deck on Alas,A Blog.

Falcons play tomorrow night. At Green Bay, Wisconsin, where the forecast is for snow and freezing temps. This could get ugly. Even so, Michele, if you're willing to give me the points, I'll take Atlanta (and the points) for a comic book! I'll email you.

Finally got to buy new comics today. Pretty good haul, much slimmer than the last couple of weeks, thank God. Best was, of course, Jack Staff 11 but I was very impressed with Hawaiian Dick. No comments, please. I'll write more later when I get out of this weird mood I'm in.

Very disappointing: Pearl Jam's Riot Act and Chris Robinson's New Earth Mud. Both have their moments, but they're few and far between– instead, plodding mid-tempo not-quite-rockers are the norm for both. The Robinson album is indistinguishable from his work with his previous group, the Black Crowes and is aptly named. The Pearl Jam album might grow on me if I give it a chance, which I really haven't done so far.

I'm pissed about the remixed John Lennon CD, Mind Games. Nothing against remixed and remastered albums per se, sometimes it's a necessary thing and often it enhances enjoyment of poorly recorded or muddily produced music. But John, by the time of 1973's Mind Games, was employing a deliberately muddy production sound, which didn't favor any one instrument– instead, he created a midrange mush (which sounds worse than it was, really). For this re-release, however, they've clarified and beefed up instruments in several songs, most notably keyboards...completely destroying Lennon's mix. It's extremely annoying to hear organ fills throughout the title song, and other bass and electric guitar licks come in where you don't remember and don't want them to. If you've never heard this album before and don't know the difference, that's one thing but for those of us who are extremely familiar with it, it's a distraction and an annoyance. And that's not even the most heinous crime...the album's closer, a weird gallumphing rocker called "Meat City" has a totally different vocal track than on the original vinyl release! What the fuck is up with THAT? It's not nearly as good, either, and doesn't have Lennon mumbling gibberish as the track fades out at the end, which was an amusing ending on the original. Feh. And they got paid, by Yoko, to do this?

Well, honk my hooter. Ohio State beat Miami. Glad I didn't lay any money down on it! Is it just me, or is there no such thing as an upset anymore if every game ends in an upset?

I went out and bought new headphones today. In my line of work, they're indispensable. Also, there's a fellow who comes in twice a day to my area and works on another Mac in the opposite corner. He's a nice guy, but he hums. Tunelessly. Constantly. I don't know if he's aware that he does it or not, but it is mind-bendingly annoying. So, my headphones also function as a humming screen. I'm also a little excited because I intend to take my dead turntable to a new place in the nearby town of Glasgow, to see if they can pull a Lazarus on it. My turntable went dead on me a little over three years ago, and I took it to a local place to get it fixed, but they only half-assed fixed it and it died again a couple of months later. I probably should have taken it back and demanded they do it right this time, but I thought I'd like to get a new one, one with a few more features. Problem is, my cash flow ain't what it oughtta be, like many of us I know, so I waited. And waited. And checked eBay. And got outbid a couple of times. And waited some more. Then kinda gave up. Then, my daughter mentioned the new place and I thought "What the heck, I'll see what they can do with it". So keep your fingers crossed for me, my friends. I've got about 5 or 6 albums that I've bought here and there, mostly on eBay, over the last three years that I haven't listened to yet, not to mention all the vinyl I already owned and don't have on CD that I'm dying to listen to!

Yes, I'm one of those who feels like vinyl LPs have better sound. More presence and warmth. Give me a pristine vinyl copy over a CD anytime. Problem is, just try to find pristine vinyl LPs...and keep them that way. Programmability and lack of surface noise are reasons why I buy CDs. But I am not afraid to grab a classic old album on vinyl if I can find it, especially if it isn't available on CD. Hey, maybe I should make a list of favorite albums not available on CD! No, wait, I did that already. Never mind. I intend to add to it some more, though, so you've been warned.

Oh, all right, I'm done. Good night.